Garth Pier, Bangor

I gave a lecture at the University of Bangor last night to the Bangor Bird Club. It went very well, a lively and enthusiastic audience and it was great to have some 2nd year university students – studying zoology and ecology – come along to see my Freeze Frames talk.

It was my first time in this small but bustling University city, so I drove there in the afternoon through torrential rain on the A55 and spent some time at Bangor’s Garth Pier taking photographs across the Menai Straits. This charming C19th pier is the second longest in Wales. Opened in May 1896, a connected pontoon handled the pleasure steamers of the Liverpool and North Wales Steamship Company to/from Blackpool, Liverpool and Douglas, Isle of Man. The pontoon has long gone but the Grade 2 listed pier is still in reasonable condition, although there were few people walking on it in yesterday’s storm.

In the space of three hours spent on the pier, the weather changed from torrential wind gusts and stormy skies to relative calm, sunshine and blue sky. The views up and down the Menai Strait however, were stunning in both stormy and calm conditions.

A lovely spot and I look forward to returning to give another lecture in the city in 2016/17.